Method and apparatus for switching between shared and individual channels to provide broadcast content services in a wireless telephone network
AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated
InventorsRagulan Sinnarajah, Jun Wang, Tao Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wireless communications network (100) includes various base stations (110) and subscriber-stations (114). The base stations each provide (602) broadcast content services to subscriber-stations over communication channels of one of the following types: 1) shared channels for use by multiple subscriber-stations, 2) individual channels each dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station. In response to one or more prescribed condition changes (604), there is a switch (606) in the type of communications channel used to provide broadcast content services to one or more given subscriber-stations.
Claims35
A method for operating a wireless communications network, comprising operations of:
- base stations each providing broadcast content to one or more wireless subscriber-stations over one or more communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more condition changes, changing the type of communications channel used to provide broadcast content to one or more subscriber-stations.
A wireless communications network, comprising:
- a content server;
- multiple base stations;
- an intermediate layer coupled between the content server and the multiple base stations, and coupled between a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the base stations, to relay broadcast content from the content server to subscriber-stations via the base stations, and to conduct two-way data flow between the PSTN and the subscriber-stations via the base stations;
- where each base station is programmed to perform operations comprising:
- providing the broadcast content to one or more wireless subscriber-stations over one or more communication channels each communication channel having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more condition changes, changing the type of communications channel used to provide the broadcast content to one or more subscriber-stations.
A wireless communications network, comprising:
- content server means for providing content;
- intermediate layer means for relaying broadcast content from the content server to subscriber-stations via base station means and conducting two-way data flow between a public switched telephone network and the subscriber-stations via the base station means;
- base station means for wirelessly exchanging information with subscriber-stations, including:
- providing the broadcast content to one or more wireless subscriber-stations over one or more communication channels each communication channel having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more condition changes each condition change having one or more prescribed types, changing the type of communications channel used to provide the broadcast content to one or more subscriber-stations.
A method of operating a wireless subscriber-station in a wireless communications network, comprising operations of:
- receiving broadcast content from one or more base stations over communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more events of one or more prescribed types, the subscriber-station switching from reception of specified broadcast content upon one type of communication channel to reception of the specified broadcast content upon another type of communication channel.
A wireless subscriber-station apparatus, comprising:
- a multichannel transceiver;
- a user interface;
- a manager coupled to components including the transceiver and user interface to manage operation of the components and to perform operations to manage the receipt of broadcast content services, the operations comprising:
- directing the transceiver to receive broadcast content from one or more base stations over communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more events of one or more prescribed types, switching from reception of specified broadcast content upon one type of communication channel to reception of the specified broadcast content upon another type of communication channel.
A wireless subscriber-station apparatus, comprising:
- first means for multichannel transceiving;
- second means for user interface;
- third means manager for managing operation of components including the first and second means and for performing operations to manage the receipt of broadcast content services, the operations comprising:
- directing the first means to receive broadcast content from one or more base stations over communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more events of one or more predetermined types, switching from reception of specified broadcast content upon one type of communication channel to reception of the specified broadcast content upon another type of communication channel.
A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital data processor to perform operations to operating a wireless subscriber-station in a wireless communications network, the operations comprising:
- receiving broadcast content from one or more base stations over communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more events of one or more prescribed types, switching from reception of specified broadcast content upon one type of communication channel to reception of the specified broadcast content upon another type of communication channel.
Logic circuitry of multiple interconnected electrically conductive elements configured to perform operations to operate a wireless subscriber-station in a wireless communications network, the operations comprising:
- receiving broadcast content from one or more base stations over communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more events of one or more prescribed types, switching from reception of specified broadcast content upon one type of communication channel to reception of the specified broadcast content upon another type of communication channel.
A method of operating a base station in a wireless communications network, performed by a subject base station and comprising operations of:
- providing broadcast content to one or more wireless subscriber-stations over one or more communication channels each communication channel having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more condition changes each condition change having one or more prescribed types, changing the type of communications channel used to provide broadcast content to one or more subscriber-stations.
A base station for use in a wireless communications network, comprising:
- a transceiver;
- a digital data processor, coupled to the transceiver, programmed to perform broadcast content delivery operations comprising:
- providing broadcast content to one or more wireless subscriber-stations over one or more communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more condition changes, changing the type of communications channel used to provide broadcast content to one or more subscriber-stations.
A base station for use in a wireless communications network, comprising:
- first means for transceiving;
- second means for performing broadcast content delivery operations comprising:
- providing broadcast content to one or more wireless subscriber-stations over one or more communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more condition changes, directing the first means to change the type of communications channel used to provide broadcast content to one or more subscriber-stations.
A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital data processor to perform operations to operate a base station in a wireless communications network, the operations comprising:
- providing broadcast content to one or more wireless subscriber-stations over one or more communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more condition changes, changing the type of communications channel used to provide broadcast content to one or more subscriber-stations.
Logic circuitry of multiple interconnected electrically conductive elements configured to perform operations to operate a base station in a wireless communications network, the operations comprising:
- providing broadcast content to wireless subscriber-stations over providing broadcast content to one or more wireless subscriber-stations over one or more communication channels each having one of the following types:
- a shared channel for use by multiple subscriber-stations, an individual channel dedicated for use by an individual subscriber-station;
- in response to one or more condition changes, changing the type of communications channel used to provide broadcast content to one or more subscriber-stations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.